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Twenty Influential Black Figures in Lacrosse History

In honor of Black History Month, Lacrosse Magazine celebrates 20 individuals or groups who have transcended our sport over time.

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<h1>Syd Abernethy</h1><br>
A two-time All-American attackman for Navy, Syd Abernethy went on to become a naval flight officer, head of the U.S. Navy’s diversity program and an award-winning base commander. In 1981, Abernethy became the first black player recognized as a first-team All-American since Jim Brown did so in 1957. Future Syracuse and Team USA player Fred Opie recalled watching Abernethy score four goals in an NCAA tournament win over Army. “The impact of seeing Syd play off the hook that day did a tremendous amount for my psyche as young black kid playing a white dominated sport,” Opie wrote two years ago in the blog series “The Roots of the Game: A Syracuse Lacrosse Memoir.”<br><br>
(Photo: Navy Athletics)

<h1>Harry Alford</h1><br>
A starting goalkeeper on the gold medal-winning 2003 U.S. U19 men’s national team, Harry Alford helped redefine the position at Maryland, where his moxie between the pipes made him popular with teammates and fans. Alford earned All-American honors in 2006, when he led the Terps to the NCAA semifinals. He’s now the editor in chief of <i>Lacrosse Playground</i>. Three years ago, he established a boys’ lacrosse program at Wilson High in Washington D.C.
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(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Rhamel and Shamel Bratton</h1>
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The extent of the Brattons’ influence on the game has yet to materialize after their dismissal from Virginia's NCAA championship team in 2011. But they have taken to Kyle Harrison as a mentor on the LXM Pro Tour and have expressed an interest in exposing youth to the game in underserved areas like where they were born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The twins would go on to become the most hyped recruits of the new millennium at Huntington (N.Y.) High, attracting attention from <i>The New York Times</i> and ESPN. Both became All-Americans at Virginia, with Shamel Bratton (left) finishing his career as the Cavaliers’ all-time scoring leader among midfielders. In an interview for the September 2011 edition of <i>Lacrosse Magazine</i>, the Brattons said they planned to move to Southern California to promote the game.<br><br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Jim Brown</h1><br><br>
Though he is best known for punishing opponents on the gridiron as a Hall of Fame running back for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, most by now know that Jim Brown is also considered one of the greatest lacrosse players of any era. “I'd rather play lacrosse six days a week and football on the seventh,” he once said. Brown was a two-time All-American midfielder at Syracuse. His last game might have been his best, as Brown scored five goals in a half against the nation's top players in the 1957 USILA North-South All-Star Game. He was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1983 and most recently appeared at the 2011 Tewaaraton Award ceremony to receive the inaugural Tewaaraton Legends Award.<br><br>
(Photo: US Lacrosse)

<h1>John Christmas</h1><br><Br>
Lacrosse fans became enamored with John Christmas’ lethal split dodge that became a staple of Virginia lacrosse in the early 2000s, especially as it helped the Cavaliers to an NCAA championship in 2003. Christmas was a two-time All-American attackman for Virginia, but injuries slowed him later in his college career. He played three seasons for his hometown Philadelphia Wings (NLL) and three seasons with the Boston Cannons (MLL) before focusing primarily on his work first as a coach at Lower Merion (Pa.) High and then on his non-profit organization L.E.A.P.S. An acronym for “Lacrosse, Education, Attitude, Perseverance, Success,” the organization provides underserved youth in the greater Philadelphia area an opportunity to learn and play lacrosse. Christmas co-founded it with fellow Philly lacrosse product Eric Gregg.<br><br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Tim Clark</h1><br><br>
You may recognize Tim Clark as one of the Super Bowl volunteers profiled recently in the event’s “XLVI Faces” series. In the video, Clark talked about discovering lacrosse in an upstate New York high school. “I didn’t see many people that looked like me that played it,” he said. Clark went on to play as a defenseman at Hobart. After collegiate coaching stints at Bucknell and Wooster, he went to work for the NCAA before settling in Indianapolis as a high school coach and founder of the Indiana Youth Lacrosse Association. Clark was the first minority to be selected to serve on the US Lacrosse Executive Board. He chairs the US Lacrosse Board Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion.<br><br>
(Photo: XLVIfaces.com)

<h1>Bill Daye</h1><br><br>
One of just two black head coaches in the 12-year history of Major League Lacrosse (former San Francisco Dragons skipper Brian Silcott is the other), Bill Daye went out on a high note, leading the Boston Cannons to their first MLL championship in 2011 before stepping down in October to spend more time with his family. Daye was also an all-star goalie for the Cannons in the league’s inaugural season in 2001, but neck and Achilles injuries cut short his playing career. Daye was an All-American and won an NCAA championship as a collegiate goalie at North Carolina.<br><br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Cherie Greer</h1><br><br>
A three-time All-American and NCAA Division I Defensive Player of the Year (1994) at Virginia, Greer led the Cavaliers to two NCAA Division I championships (1991 and 1993) and went on to become one of the most decorated players in U.S. women’s national team history. Greer was a 14-year club player and received the Beth Allen award at the US Lacrosse Women’s Division National Tournament (2000). She was a member of the 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2005 U.S. Women’s World Cup teams, winning three world championships. She was named the most outstanding player of the championship game in the 1997 and 2001 World Cups. In 2000, she was named a member of the <i>Lacrosse Magazine</i> All-Century Team. Greer was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2009.<br><br>
(Photo: Kevin P. Tucker)

<h1>Kyle Harrison</h1><br><br>
Following in the footsteps of a father who’s considered a pioneer in the black lacrosse community, Kyle Harrison became the face of lacrosse when he led Johns Hopkins to the NCAA Division I championship and won the Tewaaraton Award in 2005. In a <i>Baltimore Sun</i> article, then-Blue Jays teammate Greg Peyser called the three-time All-American midfielder “larger than life.” His father, Dr. Miles Harrison, played on the first all-black college lacrosse team in the NCAA during the 1970s at Morgan State. “I think of the kind of stuff Pops went through, and I think it's unbelievable the way I've seen a lot more black kids coming to our games and a lot more black kids with [lacrosse] sticks on the street,” Harrison told <i>The Sun</i>. “If I can pass that torch, I'm doing my job.” Harrison, a two-time MLL All-Star and member of the 2006 U.S. men’s national team, currently plays on the LXM Pro Tour and has his own equipment line with lacrosse manufacturer STX.<br><br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Ed Howard</h1><br><br>
During Hobart’s NCAA Division III dynasty days, athletes like Ed Howard who never played the game before arriving in Geneva, N.Y., thrived in the Statesmen’s system. “We made a living out of kids like Eddie,” former Hobart assistant and head coach Dave Urick, now the head coach at Georgetown, told Fred Opie in a blog titled “The Roots of the Game: A Syracuse Lacrosse Memoir.” Howard, an exceptional high school football, basketball and track and field performer, became a two-time All-American lacrosse defenseman at Hobart. His takeaway checks earned him high praise on the lacrosse field, but not necessarily at home in Buffalo. “I grew up in the inner city, and black folks on the corner used to call me ‘college boy,’” Howard told Opie. But black and white lacrosse players alike looked up to Howard, including a 13-year-old ball boy named Marc Van Arsdale. “Guys like Ed Howard were my heroes,” said Van Arsdale, now an assistant coach at Virginia.<br><br>
(Photo: Hobart Athletics)

<h1>Elaine Jones</h1><br><br>
A former two-time All-American player at Virginia and four-year U.S. women’s national team member, Jones is in her 11th season as the head coach at UC Davis. She is one of just three black head coaches in NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse. (Cal’s Ginger Miles and Bryant’s Karen Healy are the others.) Under her guidance, the Aggies have successfully transitioned from Division II, where they rose to as high as No. 3 in national rankings, to Division I. UC Davis went 22-11 over the last two seasons and led the nation in draw controls in 2011. The Aggies started their 2012 season with an 18-7 victory over San Diego State.<br><Br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Ginger Miles</h1><Br><Br>
In addition to her duties as the head coach of a resurrected women’s lacrosse program at Cal, Ginger Miles is a US Lacrosse board member and former admissions counselor at her alma mater Virginia, where she focused on diversifying the student population. In a roundtable on diversity in lacrosse published in the November issue of <i>Lacrosse Magazine</i>, Miles stressed the importance of making great black lacrosse players visible to the wider public. “I remember coming up and hearing about Cherie Greer at Virginia. And for me, it could have been a myth,” she said. “It’s just making sure that we’re getting the history out there and making these role models more accessible to kids who are just starting to pick up sticks.” Miles won an NCAA championship as a goalie at Virginia.<br><br>
(Photo: Cal Athletics)

<h1>Morgan State's "Ten Bears"</h1>
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In the 1970s, Morgan State University fielded the only team that ever played NCAA-level men’s lacrosse at a historically black institution. Established in 1970 by coach Chip Silverman, co-author with Dr. Miles Harrison of the book <i>Ten Bears</i>, the team became a perennial top-20 contender and in 1975 upset No. 1-ranked Washington and Lee. Notable players included Harrison, Wayne Jackson, Stanley Cherry, Val Emery, Tony Fulton, Joe Fowlkes, Curt Anderson, George Kelley and Clarence “Tiger” Davis.<br><br>
(Photo: US Lacrosse)

<h1>Gina Oliver</h1>
A native of Pottstown, Pa., Regina Oliver emerged from a community in which 11 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau data, as one of the greatest women’s lacrosse players in Ohio State history. Former Buckeyes head coach Sue Stimmel discovered her as a 14-year-old at a clinic in Boyertown, Pa. Oliver would go on to become a three-time All-American midfielder at Ohio State, leading the Buckeyes to NCAA tournament appearances in 2002 and 2003 and setting school records for ground balls (236) and caused turnovers (201). She is now in her second stint with the U.S. women’s national team – she was a defender on the 2009 World Cup team that won a gold medal in the Czech Republic and came out of retirement for a run at the 2013 team – and in her fifth season as an assistant coach at Duquesne.<br><Br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Fred Opie</h1><br><Br>
Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie, now a history professor at Babson College, knows about breaking barriers. In 1990 he became the first black lacrosse player to suit up for the U.S. men’s national team, helping Team USA capture the gold medal in Perth, Australia. Opie was a two-time NJCAA All-American defenseman at Herkimer (1982-83) and played two seasons at Syracuse (1984-85) before embarking on a post-collegiate career that included two USCLA championships and a stint with the National Lacrosse League’s New York Saints. Opie has served on the board of directors for US Lacrosse since 2006.<br><Br>
(Photo: Syracuse Athletics)

<h1>Tina Sloan Green</h1>
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A three-time NCAA champion at Temple, Tina Sloan Green was the first black head coach in college women’s lacrosse history. Her best season came in 1988, when the Owls went 19-0 and topped Penn State for the NCAA title. She went 207-62-4 in 18 years at Temple. Prior to coaching, Sloan Green played lacrosse and field hockey collegiately at West Chester and in 1969 became the first black player named to the U.S. women’s national team. She has written two books and was the co-founder of the Black Women in Sports Foundation. A 1997 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee, Sloan Green currently serves on the board of directors for US Lacrosse.<br><Br>
(Photo: Temple Athletics)

<h1>Rick Sowell</h1><br><br>
Rick Sowell, the only black head coach in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse, now has one of the most visible jobs in the business at Navy. “I still get emails from African Americans I don’t even know. They are really proud that I’m coaching at a school as prestigious as [Navy],” he said in the November 2011 issue of <i>Lacrosse Magazine</i>. Sowell’s trailblazing ways started as an All-American midfielder for Washington College. He led the Shoremen to the NCAA Division III championship game twice. As a head coach at Dartmouth, St. John’s and most recently Stony Brook, he developed a reputation for turning rebuilding projects into contenders. Sowell was also an assistant coach on the gold medal-winning 2010 U.S. men’s national team.<br><br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Taylor Thornton</h1><Br><Br>
Is Taylor Thornton the next Cherie Greer? Already a two-time All-American at Northwestern, the junior midfielder/defender is one of the top all-around players in the country, earning IWLCA Division I Defender of the Year honors in 2011. Thornton, a Dallas native, is also a member of the U.S. women’s national senior team. Her tenacious play between the restraining lines makes her a fan favorite and a nightmare for opponents like Florida’s Kitty Cullen and North Carolina’s Corey Donohoe – both of whom she held scoreless in one-on-one encounters last year.<br><br>
(Photo: John Mecionis)

<h1>John Walker</h1><br><Br>
A rising star in the NCAA Division I coaching ranks, Virginia assistant coach John Walker was largely responsible for implementing the zone defense that gained national recognition in the Cavaliers’ unlikely run to the 2011 NCAA championship. Walker starred as a three-time All-American attackman at Army and was a Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2005. The son of former New York Jets All-Pro wide receiver Wesley Walker, he ranks second on Army’s all-time scoring list.<br><Br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)

<h1>Chazz Woodson</h1>
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One of the most electrifying players in the game today, former All-Ivy League attackman Chazz Woodson spent parts of five MLL seasons with the Long Island Lizards, Boston Cannons, Los Angeles Riptide and Chicago Machine after graduating from Brown. A Virginia Beach native, Woodson eventually resettled in Miami as a high school basketball and lacrosse coach. In 2008, he created Makin’ Moves Athletics, which caters to youth in underserved communities in South Florida. An influential figure in Florida lacrosse, Woodson has also moonlighted on the LXM Pro Tour and with the U.S. men’s national team.<br><Br>
(Photo: John Strohsacker)